Area history, March 3, 2014

Today is Monday, March 3, 2014. News reports from 100, 50 and 15 years ago on this date:

In 1914, Champaign Mayor O.B. Dobbins has lifted the ban recently placed on theaters and other places of amusement because of the scare over scarlet fever. The ban on public schools also has been lifted. All places in the Twin Cities that had been closed at the suggestion of health officials will be free to open tomorrow.

In 1964, workers began placing barricades on Kirby Avenue, closing the street to through traffic from Prospect Avenue to Mattis Avenue in preparation for the improvement of the one-mile stretch of street. General Paving Co., winner of the $620,189 project, is to begin the first phase of the four-lane improvement with the installation of storm sewers. The work is expected to be completed by Sept. 1.

In 1999, Rantoul will get a new post office sometime in 2000. U.S. Postal Service officials announced they would break ground later this year on a new post office on Maplewood Drive just north of U.S. 136. The new facility will be more than twice the size of the existing post office at 100 E. Congress Ave. in downtown Rantoul.